Why I'd rather be at Solent

So the other night I was at Sobar and it was that stage of the evening where everybody was looking a bit too pretty and my Quad Vod was tasting like water. I went outside and did the standard garden wander until a couple of guys invited me to have a chat with them on garden benches. As I sat down I realized that three of the guys were sat on one side with one lonely looking guy sat opposite them. Being a charitable person I sat next to the loner. We all got talking about what courses we do and got know each other. Turns out the three sitting opposite me were at Solent and had braved the wonders of Sobar to see what all the student hype was about around Bevois Valley.

Now I’m pretty open to Solent students, my best friend from home is at Solent (love you bbz) – I reckon he could definitely out smart me in a pub quiz and without doubt he smashed me at his GCSE’s. He went to a private secondary school whilst I went to a horrendous comprehensive, yet somehow our different paths in life have ended up with the choice between Kaos or Jesters on a Monday night.

The guy sitting next to me didn’t seem so open, he became enraged to hear that SOLENT SCUM were in Sobar stealing his women and polluting his atmosphere. He wasn’t afraid to tell them either and began shouting and swearing at them to get out of his nightclub. The poor Solent boys looked horrified and went to slink off but then something occurred to me: What gives anybody the right to be so offensive to another that they have just met and justify it because they are smarter than them?

In my opinion intelligence manifests in many different ways; for example comparing the ‘average’ social intelligence and A level grades of people who have Asperger’s syndrome. So,  me being me I voiced my opinion and told him to fuck off…. Eventually he did, but not before asking me what I thought I was doing and letting us know that he went to the best private school in the country. I told the Solent guys that I was sorry on his behalf but the damage was done.

 We are freshers but we wouldn’t come back here. Too much hate from Southampton.

After saying a sad goodbye I then had a chat with one of the bouncers and asked him what he thought. He pointed out that he couldn’t care less who came through the doors as long as they didn’t cause any trouble. He said that when it comes to Solent students at Sobar who really cares? He would not let someone in because they were northern or black so why is it such an issue? Seems that we at Southampton don’t just consider ourselves the smarter University in Southampton but also the better one.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves, I don’t suddenly hate being at Southampton University because of one guy in Sobar. But I do hate prejudice or discrimination. Who is to say Solent is that much worse than Southampton? It may rank at 111 compared to our 14 on the league tables but many of the courses at Solent you can’t study here at Southampton. Take social work, it’s a respected profession with qualification only available via a University degree and in the city of Southampton you can only study it Solent. What if I had decided that I wanted to be a social worker? Would I be less intelligent than I am now?

All in all, I’m disappointed at the attitude displayed by that guy in Sobar (BURN if you are reading this now). I seriously hope it’s not reflective of the most of Southampton University students but I’m afraid it might be. I empathise with Solent students although admittedly its easier for me because of my bestie., I can say that I’ve never had a problem when I have gone to a ‘Solent’ nightclub and on the whole I find the Solent attitude the most friendly and easy to identify with out of the two Southampton Universities. Does that make me a traitor? Who really cares. I’d rather be at Solent than a cunt.

Editors Note: Solent Students. We are looking to get involved in Solent so we can represent Southampton students even better. If you’d like to get involved please just click the big banner above!! We look forward to hearing from you!